Traveller tests positive for malaria; no danger to public: HPA
Malaria was eradicated in the Maldives in the 1970s; the mosquitoes that cause the disease are no longer native to Maldives.
Health Protection Agency (HPA) said on Tuesday that there is no risk of a malaria outbreak even though a foreigner who arrived in the Maldives has tested positive for the disease which had been eradicated from the country.
Aishath Lubana, Assistant Health Programme Officer of HPA, told Atoll Times on Tuesday that the malaria case detected in the Maldives is an "imported case" and such cases have often been reported from across the country.
Lubana said there was no fear of transmission as the malaria-causing mosquito was not a mosquito breed present in the country.
"This cannot be considered an outbreak of malaria," she said.
Since there is no risk of infection, the authorities are focusing on providing treatment to the infected person, Lubana said.
Malaria was eradicated in the Maldives in the 1970s. Since then, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has presented a memento to the Maldives in 2015 for being 'malaria-free' as no outbreak of malaria has been reported for more than 30 years.
Maldives has recently declared a case of measles as an outbreak. Contact tracing of the child with measles was conducted and a community survey of the area where the case was detected was conducted as well.
However, since then, there have been no new cases of measles.
